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A share offer I couldn’t refuse

I was a 19-year-old undergraduate at the University of Manchester when, in October 1986, the Thatcher Government launched the British Gas share offer.

Having made a few quid earlier in the autumn term from “stagging” the Trustee Savings Bank issue, this was too good a money-making opportunity to miss for a hard-up student.

Accordingly, in between lectures and attending gigs by such indie bands as the Soup Dragons, Microdisney and the Wedding Present, I popped into the Fallowfield branch of the NatWest Bank. These were the days when bank managers were still pleased to see their customers, even if they were penniless students. In fact, as I recall, especially if they were penniless students.

The manager, Mr Todd, congratulated me and my friend Stuart on…

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